The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-05
SociabilitY in cites.

iuo eCichCc VI ooCiupiitJ scchiS III
danger of becoming lost art in many
Of our larger cities, and it is a pity that
/ It should be so.
Take New York as case IN point
J In the time of the ancient Knicker-
bockers. when the infant city OF New
Amsterdam occupied but an insignif-
cant portion of the Island of the Man.
hadocs." every citizen of repute was in.
Limately acquainted with every other
citizen of like good standing. The men
smoked their pipes together in social
silence, and tho women discussed las,
years fashions in old Amsterdam across
the ocean, or compared the patterns in
which they deity sanded their "best
;ooms." The Broad Way which ex-
tended from the fort and parade, at
what is now known as the Battery, to
Wall street was lined with the houses
Of solid Dutch burgess, each standing
comfortably in the midst of n 9ower
and vegetable garden, and each as uni
formly frontcd by II broad "stoop," set
with substantial oaken benches and al
shaded by the handsome rows of trees
that lined the street on both sides. On
the stoops the solid men of the city sat
in the afternoons to receive their neigh
bors, and here also was the throne OF
woman kingdom. Sociablity was the
browning virtue of the little Dutch city,
and the kindly hospitality they so de-
yotedly practiced was duly transmitted
to their English succors.
1t is only fifty years that the man
who owned house in Gotham knew
everybody on his block, if not in his
ward, and was proud to do so. Now
it seems to be the fashion to affect n
lack of knowledge of ones next door
neighbor and to profess profound in
difference to his fate. AS TO sitting on
the front stoop, no person Sin society
would venture to do it after dark, and
then only amid such profound silence
as would be certain not to attract at
lention. This the unwritten law of
fashion seems to demand, but surely
no one would venture to assert that
the change is for the better.
In some of our western cites, where
fashion is less rigid in her cdcts or less
obeyed, more socable and therefore
more enjoyable state of affairs
prevails. On some of the most fashion
able avenues of Chicago, for instance,
q custom prevails which strikes the
stranger at once with approval. In
the early afternoon, a servant Will I'M
roll upon the stone portico and steps,
which answer nowadays to the old-fash-
ioned stoop, roll of handsome car
peting, and the members of the family,
from time to time, individually or col
lectvely. will sit there. They read.
chat, sew. smoke or do otherwise rs
they please while they enjoy each
other society and the breezes from
the lake Neighbofs drop in, singly
or in groups, and here and there make
quite levee 1t is much less formal
and far more plcasurable than stiff
call in stuily parlor. And IL keeps
. alive the fire on tho sacred alter" OF
sociability.
1t is n good thing that the fresh and
vigorous life of the west comes in to
break up the formality that fashion die
tates at the east. Tho kindly ways Of
the olden time, when the law of hos
pitaity was recognized everywhere.
ought not lightly to be laid aside. 1t
may be all well enough 10 laugh at the
quaint ways and curious manners of
our ancestors, but they took great
deal of enjoyment out of life rs they
passed through the world. The broker
hurrying home from Wall street in the
afternoon, with every nerve tense and
his brain in whirl, is scarcely as much
to be envied as lis old Dutch progeni-
tor who sat in his stoop as the sun
declined, blowing great clouds of smoke
over the heads of his assembled neigh
bors and shaking betimes with the
l laughter which betokens an absence
: of mortal cares. If the man of to-day
is rs wise as the man of yesterday he
will do his best 10 prevent sociability
from ever becoming one of the LOST
I arts.-Mqr, IN New York Mercury.